Eos Tower and The Five
by iAmTheTot
Summary: Heros is a young adventurer seeking to make a name for himself, but the latest quest he's accepted may just be more than he signed up for. He'll have to rely closely on four strangers-made-friends as he plans to uncover the secrets behind Eos Tower.
1. Chapter 1: Fifth

**Chapter One: Fifth**

Heros stood in awe of Eos Tower. The height of the massive tower represented the adventure he knew he was getting himself into. Tightening his grip on his plain wooden longbow he gathered the courage to continue towards the entrance.

The tower was one of two massive, sky-scraping towers that held up the town of Temporis in the sky. Eos Tower and its companion on the other side of Temporis, Helios Tower, were shrouded in mystery. No one knew how they'd been built, or even Temporis itself, but they had been there as long as anyone could remember. Temporis rested between the one hundredth floor of each tower, but the towers went even higher than that. Both towers could be used as a passage to the continent below, but few people had ever dared climb above the one hundredth floor; those that had were never heard from again.

Heros wasn't sure of himself. _Go back now_, he kept telling himself, _before you get yourself into real trouble_. He had almost turned back a few times already, but Heros only had to remind himself that he'd never hear the end of it back at the Adventurer's Guild to keep himself going forward.

Heros stopped again, desperate for any excuse to prolong the perilous journey that surely lay ahead of him. He self-consciously looked down at himself, swatting at his thighs to straighten out his lackluster black tunic which covered down to his calves. Then he adjusted his thin silver sleeveless chest piece which he wore as protective armour over his tunic. Lastly, he knelt down and placed his bow to his side, his shoulder length brown hair falling to the sides and front of his face. He fiddled with his black boots and made sure the makeshift laces were securely tied. Knowing he could delay no more, he reclaimed his bow and stood tall, puffing his chest out to instill himself with confidence.

One step at a time Heros continued climbing the stairs leading to Eos Tower's entrance. As he began approaching the last of them, he could see a small group of people appearing. He felt certain these were the other adventurers the strange old man from the guild told him about.

"A band of five," Heros remembered the old man's words, "and you must be the fifth. Yes, yes, five must enter for the seal to open. Five must enter to conquer the tower's trials. Only then will the five reap the rewards."

And there were the four others, standing outside the tower's opening as if they'd been waiting for Heros to arrive. Cautiously he approached the group.

"Hey," one of them called out. He was a tall man, taller than Heros, and muscular with his head cleanly shaved. He had a sword strapped around his back that was nearly as tall as the man himself. He was dressed peculiarly, his lower half being covered with loose-fitting tan leather and his upper body hardly covered at all by a plain white tank top. "Are you the fifth?"

Heros knew this was his last chance to back out. _No!_ his insides shouted. But against all his better instincts, "Yes I am" is what came out of his mouth.

"I'm Force," the same man added. He pointed to another man who was wearing the simplest of garbs, a plain brown robe and hardly sandals enough to cover his feet. "That's Evek."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said the smiling Evek. Heros couldn't help but think, _what help is this guy going to be?_

"So you're the fifth, eh?" Heros' attention was snapped to the new speaker, a man to his right. He was a little shorter than Heros, about as tall as Evek, but dressed much differently. He was clad in dark leathers, goggles strapped around his head that rested under his black-as-night hair on his forehead, and a terribly disheveled piece of fabric that was clasped around his neck as a cape. "I'm Mise. Stay out of my way." Heros thought he was talking awfully tough for someone who didn't appear to have any type of weapon, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Don't mind him," added the only woman, standing right next to Mise. She was wearing similar clothes, except they were a tighter fit, had a small slot for a sheathed dagger on her right side, and her cape was shorter. She and Mise looked a lot alike; Heros was able to tell them apart only because the girl's hair was strikingly blonde, and she wasn't wearing goggles like Mise was. "You can call me Vol. Mise and me are twins, so don't worry if you mix us up. Happens all the time." Heros just nodded.

"Well?" Asked Force. "And you are...?"

"Sorry," Heros quickly apologized. "I'm Heros."

"You're late, Fifth." Mise retorted, as if he didn't even listen to Heros state his name – or didn't care. Mise turned his back to the group and began walking slowly towards the tower's opening. Rolling her eyes, Vol followed after giving Heros a pat on the back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Heros!" Evek said before turning to keep up with the twins. "Wait up!"

Force took a step closer, and placed his hand on Heros' shoulder. "I can tell you're a little nervous. Scared?" Heros didn't even have a chance to answer. "Don't worry. I can tell you've never done anything like this before. It'll be over before you know it, just stay behind me." Force smirked, gesturing towards his massive sword. Then he turned and began walking towards the tower.

Heros hesitated. He checked his bow's string and made sure there were plenty of arrows in the quiver strapped to his back. But then he knew he could stall no more, and began jogging to catch up with the other four.

At the base of the tower was no door, only a large piece of the wall missing leading to the innards. The others had already entered, though he could hardly see them because of how dark the inside was. Mise and Vol seemed to vanish completely with their dark clothes.

Heros knew this was only the beginning of what was sure to be his most spectacular adventure yet.


	2. Chapter 2: Arachnophobia

**Chapter Two: Arachnophobia**

Once inside the tower Heros could see the others a little better; his eyes adapted to the dark. Mise and Vol were still annoyingly difficult to spot, though, with their black clothing.

"Don't look down," Vol said softly with a sly smirk on her face as she stepped to Heros' side.

Sure enough, he couldn't help himself. Peering over the edge of the floor they were on Heros leaned against the brittle rail that was supposed to keep people from falling over. He couldn't even see the bottom. He tried to count the floors he could see, but stopped at ten and didn't want to imagine what it'd be like to fall down all one hundred. He felt some air get caught in his throat and backed away from the edge immediately. Looking over at Vol, Heros could see she was still smirking at him before turning her back and walking towards her twin brother.

"So where is this-"

"-Shh!" Force interrupted Mise, putting his hand up in a 'stop' gesture. He quietly continued, "We're not alone." Using the same hand, Force pointed towards the ceiling while slowly looking up.

Heros couldn't see much. It was still so dark. His eyes had been able to adapt and spot the other adventurers, but they were so close compared to how far up the ceiling seemed to be. He remembered how many floors he saw looking down; he couldn't even imagine how many were above them also. Taking extra care to keep his voice down, Heros queried "What are we looking at?"

"Spiders," Force succinctly stated. "Big ones."

Heros rescanned the ceiling. Still, he couldn't see anything. Finally, tucked away in the corner, he saw a stripe of yellow. Then another. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness and learned what they were supposed to be looking for, he could see them, all of them, and there were a lot.

"Well," Evek quipped, "at least we're going down. Right?"

"Wrong," Vol corrected him with a grim tone in her voice. She continued in a whisper, "The old man said we had to go up. Don't worry, I don't think they've noticed us yet. They're all staying still."

"You're right," Force agreed. "We'll just be as quiet as possible, and climb the ladder up to the next floor as quickly as we can. I'll take the lead. Evek, you stay right behind me. Then you, Heros. Mise and Vol, you come up after the three of us have reached the top."

"How does that make any sense?" Mise said with disagreement in his voice.

"Just do what I say, Mise."

Mise crossed his arms and turned his head to the side.

Force lifted his sword up and slid it into the sheath attached to his back then placed both hands on the ladder. He hesitated. Heros didn't think any less of Force though; just from looking at it Heros could tell the ladder wasn't very sturdy, and who-knows how old. _The spiders might not even be the biggest problem_, Heros told himself.

Reluctantly, Force began with one foot on the ladder. Then another. Evek wasted no time and got on next, staying as close to Force as possible. When they were a quarter of the way up, Heros swung his bow around his arm and over his head and got on third just as Force instructed. Hesitating a little longer than Force had, Heros finally brought himself to start making his way up the ladder.

Looking straight up, Heros could see Force had reached the top. He still had quite a way to go. Force grabbed the latch and pushed the hatch door at the top open. But as the heavy metal trap-door swung open it slammed with all its weight against the floor of the next level of the tower, producing a sound that echoed through the entire chamber.

The spiders were instantly alerted. An incredible shrieking sound filled the room and probably most of the tower, Heros thought. He would have covered his ears, but he was holding the ladder.

"Damn it!" Force shouted, sprawling up the last few rungs of ladder onto the next floor. He immediately turned around and reached down to grab Evek's hand, violently pulling him up off the ladder and onto the floor. "Hurry!"

Heros had just realized the seriousness of the situation. Looking at the ceiling, which he was closer to now, he saw all of the ambiguous yellow stripes moving towards the source of the sound.

"Go, Fifth!" Mise shouted from below. Heros looked down and saw that Mise and Vol were already catching up to his position on the ladder, with great haste. Knowing he couldn't waste any more time, Heros began sprinting up the ladder as fast as he could. He could see the spiders coming closer to the hatch. They would converge on it nearly the same time he reached it at the pace they were going. He tried to push himself even harder.

It was close, very close. Heros reached the top just before the spiders, and Force pulled him up same as he did Evek. Heros peered over the edge to see how close Mise and Vol were. He knew they wouldn't make it.

The spiders reached the hatch and began trying to squeeze their massive abdomens through. Their long skinny legs scrapped against the floor as they tried to pull the rest of their bodies up. Force, sword already unsheathed, began jabbing it into their large bodies as quickly as he could. Heros froze. He couldn't think. He wanted to help but he couldn't move. He was terrified. Even Evek was trying to push the spiders back with his feet.

Finally the two managed to push one of the last spiders away from the hatch. The spider, losing its grip on the ceiling, fell straight towards Mise and Vol on the ladder. Halting their progress and hugging their bodies as close to the ladder as they could, the twins were just barely able to avoid the shrieking spider as it fell past them. Vol looked down to watch the spider fall, but instead saw something coming towards them.

"Mise... Climb!" Vol frantically shouted as she spotted a hideously large red-striped spider clinging to the wall and quickly gaining on the pair.

Mise didn't even look. They both began ascending the flimsy ladder as fast as they could. The red-striped spider was even bigger than the yellow ones. Heros had no idea how it could move so fast. Its giant abdomen was swaying back and forth as it climbed up the wall after the twins. As it hit the wall it caused the whole room to tremble.

The weight of both the twins and the spider combined began to take its toll on the ladder. Rickety to begin with, it started to shake back and forth. Heros could see parts of it coming apart. Mise threw his hand up for Force to grab, and just barely reaching him Force was able to swing him through the hatch as well.

"Vol!" Evek yelled as the ladder completely crumbled. Bent, twisted, and deformed, it had finally had enough and snapped right off of the wall, taking Vol with it. She didn't stop climbing even as it fell. Watching her climb and the ladder fall down at the same speed was peculiar; it didn't even appear that she was getting any closer.

She had reached the end of the ladder. Placing her foot on the very last rung she jumped as high as she could, her hand extended as far upwards as she could possibly stretch.

"Vol!" Mise echoed, seeing that she clearly wasn't going to be able to make it. He dove down from the hatch without hesitating at all. Thinking fast, Force grabbed Mise's foot to keep him from falling. With one hand, Mise was just barely able to grab onto Vol's outstretched reach. "Pull us up, Force! It's still coming!"

Grabbing Mise's leg with both hands Force planted his feet firmly on the floor and grunted as he used all his might to begin pulling them up. Heros could see he wasn't pulling them up fast enough, the spider was going to get them. He knew he had to do something.

Gripping his bow with his left hand, Heros reached back and pulled an arrow from his quiver. He lined it up with the string, and pulled it back as far as he could. Squinting one eye, Heros took aim at the spider getting ever closer to Vol and Mise. He held his breath. _This is it_, he thought, and released.


	3. Chapter 3: Reprieve

**Chapter Three: Reprieve**

Heros' arrow flew right past Vol's head, straight and fast, and hit the spider's abdomen piercing almost all the way through. To Heros' dismay it did nothing but make the spider release an outrageous shriek, a shrill that echoed against the walls of the narrow tower chamber to achieve a nearly deafening noise.

Heros dropped his bow and instantly placed both hands over his ears, dropping to his knees. Force let go of Mise's leg with one hand, covering one of his ears while simultaneously letting out a struggling grunt. Recovering as quickly as possible, he re-grasped Mise's leg with both hands and continued pulling them both up.

"Force! Pull!" Mise shouted.

"Don't you dare drop me," the frightened Vol cried.

"I'm not going to, sis," her brother assured.

The spider approached them both very quickly. Even though he knew he wouldn't be much of a help, Heros, staying on his knees, leaned over the hatch and grabbed Mise's other leg and began pulling. Heros could feel them making progress as he put all his strength into it.

But it wasn't enough. The spider was finally close enough to make a lunge, and it did. It's massive body pressing against the wall, it used all of its weight to throw itself towards Vol, its mouth open.

Evek pulled from under his robe a short gold rod with a large blue jewel encrusted at one end, "Take this!" There was a true sense of anger, desperation, and determination all at once in Evek's voice as it boomed from his frail form. And with it came a swing of his newly wielded wand, from which came three blasts of blue energy. After a second wave in the opposite direction a second set of blue energy shot out in a criss-crossed fashion.

Heros couldn't believe what he was seeing. He almost forgot he was helping Force pull the twins up. The waves of energy flew towards the oversized spider in an arc, as if they had a mind of their own. One set flew by Mise and Vol on the left, the other on the right, and then converged to collide with the spider at the same time. The waves of energy hit the spider as though they were sharpened blades; they didn't just hit the creature, they cut into it.

That attack had done it. Severely injured from the blast, the beast couldn't maintain its grip on the wall and fell off of it. It went tumbling down the side of the chamber until finally crashing into the floor so forcefully that it smashed right through and onto the floor beneath that. Without the pressure of certain death, Force was able to refocus his strength and pull the two up safely. As soon as they were up, Heros closed the hatch – and locked it.

"That... was close." Was all Evek could think to say.

"You don't even know," Vol added, "I'm pretty sure I felt it breathing on me. Let's not do that again."

They continued talking, but Heros tuned them out. He tuned everything out. His ears were still ringing from the spider's shriek. _What have I gotten myself into?_ he couldn't help but think. He still couldn't hear anything. Their mouths were moving, but all Heros heard was that infernal ringing. He grabbed his bow and pushed himself off his knees to stand up again.

Heros surveyed the new floor they had made it to. The floor they almost died to reach. He was thoroughly disappointed. It was barren. It looked no different than the floor they were just on. It was still dark, it was still chilly, and it was still dangerous. The only difference Heros could really think of was that there would now be one more floor to fall down.

"It will be dangerous," Heros recalled the old man's words once again. "Deadly indeed. Some of you may die. All of you may die, yes. Succeed, though, and you shall find the untold riches on Eos Tower's highest floor. I only ask you bring me the... item I described."

"Heros? You okay?"

It was Vol's voice that made Heros snap back to the present. "Oh," he stuttered, "yes I'm fine."

"You know," she continued, "I'm the one that almost just died. I'm the one that should be staring off into the distance, reconsidering my decision to come here."

"What? No, no, I wasn't-"

"Don't worry, Heros. I'm just teasing you. You don't have to be afraid to be afraid. We all are. But we're going to get through this, you hear me? All of us."

"Yeah. Thanks. By the way, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks to-"

"Evek." Mise interrupted his sister. "If it wasn't for his little trick there, we'd probably all be dead. What the hell was that, Fifth? Your shot didn't even bother the damned creature. Was that the best you can do?"

Heros' face turned to an expression of clear disapproval.

"Oh my," Evek intervened, "I'd hardly say I saved us. I mean, I just reacted. If I didn't do something, someone else would have."

"Enough!" Force's voice beckoned all of their attention. "Knock it off. We're a team – all of us. And we're going to keep it that way if we want to stay alive. Now stop this chit-chat and look for a way off this floor. We have to keep moving up."

Mise scoffed and turned his back to the group before walking off to look around. Evek slid his rod back under his robe and began to look around the room without moving. Vol and Force went off in opposite directions, too.

Heros heard a noise and set off to investigate it. It was a knocking of sorts; a banging on the wall. Heros looked around, trying to determine where it was coming from. He could hear it getting a little louder. It wasn't long before he came to a large set of double doors which were definitely the source of the sound. Heros could actually see the doors moving. Something was on the other side, pounding on the doors.

As he cautiously approached the doors, something off to the side caught Heros's eye. There was something on the wall a little ways from the doors. Heros made it out to be writing as he got a little closer, but not very legible writing. It looked like it had been hastily carved into the wall by someone rather than neatly written for anyone to read. Heros tried his best to make it out, but some parts were beyond all comprehension:

_Atop the tower lies the throne of The... ...perilous, never should have... ...they're all gone, it's just... ...for that damned man. TURN BA..._

The last part of the etching wasn't hard to make out, it simply wasn't there. The writing stopped and trailed off into a long scratch mark towards the door, which faded then disappeared. Heros didn't need it to be finished to know what the last part was going to say, though, and knew he needed to bring it to the group's attention.

"Over here!" Heros called to the others.

They all gathered around, suspiciously eying the doors which were still trying to open from the other side. It wasn't exactly a comforting sight, but Heros urged the group to look at the message he had found. They all read it in turn.

"Well? We can't possibly keep going after seeing something like that," Heros told his partners.

"We're going forward," Mise said without emotion. "Vol and I... don't have a choice." Vol didn't add to that, but gave an expression that said it all: as much as she didn't like it, Mise was right.

"That message is certainly... unsettling, but I too have to go forward," Evek said in turn.

Force had his arms crossed the entire time, looking down at the floor. He even continued to do this for a while as the rest of the group waited for his decision on the matter. Finally, he looked up and said, "they'd never make it alone. I'll have to keep going to protect them. Sorry, Heros." Force's words seemed hollow. Heros was sure that Force wanted to protect the three proceeding up the tower, but he must have had a better reason than that.

Heros was outnumbered, and he certainly wasn't going to try to find a way back down the tower alone. Letting out a sigh of defeat, he nodded as he gave the message on the wall one last glance. "Alright then," he caved, "let's do what we came here to do."

The adventurers walked away from the message on the wall, and a little ways from the doors. They stood in a semicircle facing the doors that reeked of ominous portents. No one moved an inch as they all just stared for a brief moment.

"Well," Force said, "I guess I'll open it since no one else will."

"Careful," Vol added before Force could even take a step towards it.

Force gave an acknowledging nod and then walked to the door. Turning back towards Heros and the group, Force asked, "Ready?"


	4. Chapter 4: Darkness

**Chapter Four: Darkness**

Force firmly grasped the door's handle and gave it the hardest tug he could. The door swung open. Before anyone had the time to react, a black mist-like entity came from the room, grasping Force by both his legs, tripping him.

"Force!" The entire group shouted as the darkness began pulling Force into the pitch-black room. Force tried to grab something, anything; the door, but it was just out of his reach. He couldn't get a grasp on the floor. Mise and Vol ran towards him.

Three more masses came out of the darkness. One flew at a tremendous speed towards Vol. Before she even knew it was coming, it smacked Vol so hard she was forced half way back across the room in a tumble. Even though the black entity appeared misty, it was quite clearly very solid. The second one grabbed Evek around the waist without much trouble and began engulfing him in the darkness.

The third tentacle-like appendage made way for Mise. He had a little more time to react, seeing what happened to Vol and Evek. Mise was quick to get off his feet. As the darkness outstretched towards him he jumped high into the air, turning himself upside down. As he was flying over the being, Mise quickly reached into a small pouch attached to his waist – Heros hadn't even noticed it until now – and from it pulled two black shurikens. Straight from his small pouch Mise launched these throwing stars directly at the black mass. They both hit with razor sharp precision as they sliced the shadowy arm right off.

Mise flipped again to land on his feet, his hand already in his pouch ready to pull more stars out if he had to. But to everyone's surprise, the severed half of the darkness faded into a thick smoke which quickly drifted towards the door. The still-attached half of the dark arm waved around in a rampant fashion before withdrawing back into the darkness from beyond the doorway.

By the time Mise had dispatched of the one arm, Force and Evek had been completely dragged into the darkness, nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, another tentacle had been slithering its way closer to Heros. When it was close enough it quickly wrapped itself around Heros' legs in a similar way it did Force's. Caught completely off guard, Heros felt his feet get pulled out from under him as he fell to the floor. He too tried grabbing the floor – anything – to keep the darkness from pulling him in. But he couldn't.

"Mise!" Heros shouted. "Vol!" Mise looked towards Heros to see him being dragged away. Then, Mise looked over to Vol, who was still weary from the massive hit she took and was being approached by the dark arm that hit her. Mise made the decision to leave Heros and help his sister. As Heros was being dragged into the darkness, he could see two more tentacles outstretching towards Mise. Even though Mise left Heros at this monster's mercy, Heros felt obligated to warn him: "Watch out!"

The last thing Heros saw before being entirely engulfed in the darkness was Mise looking back. It was strange: even though this dark room was attached to the room they had just been in, Heros couldn't see any source of light. It was all black, entirely dark. Heros could feel the tentacle releasing itself from around Heros' feet. He took advantage of this and got back onto his feet as fast as he could.

"Force!" Heros called, hoping to find his downed comrades that had already been pulled into the room. He waited as long as he safely felt he could. "Evek!" He tried again. There was still no reply. But then Heros saw something. A light, then another light. Side by side, identical in shape and size, with small black dots in the middle. And they started to move towards Heros.

Heros mumbled out of confusion. He was slowly stepping backwards as the large pools of white light came closer and closer. Then, for a split second, the lights were gone – enveloped completely in the surrounding blackness before quickly reappearing. "They're eyes!" Heros concluded.

Hesitating only slightly, Heros gripped his bow and pulled out an arrow. It was incredibly difficult to line his arrow up with his bow in the pitch black. This allowed the monster to make its way closer and closer to Heros inch by inch. It was slow, but judging by the size of its eyes it must have been big. Heros didn't care to find out first-hand. Finally, he had his arrow loaded and aimed at the beast. He made sure he was aiming at the only thing he could actually see – he was going to hit the monster right in its eye.

Releasing the arrow, it flew straight and fast piercing the beast right in its left eye. That pool of light returned to the darkness that surrounded it, leaving only its right one. Although the beast let out a low-pitched groan of pain, it didn't seem to slow at all.

"Alright," Heros humoured himself, "let's see how much you like being surrounded by darkness." As he spoke, Heros reloaded his bow. He was able to load it a little faster this time, having done it once in the dark already. He felt like he was placing the arrow in the right place just by instinct. Drawing his bowstring back, Heros released the second arrow towards the last remaining eye.

As the pool of light vanished right before his eyes, the beast let out another terrible cry. Even though Heros couldn't see the monster, he could feel it. He could feel the monster's agitated movements as it scurried around the dark room, helpless. Then, from the darkness, came the slightest of lights. And another. Heros was worried that the beast was able to reopen its eyes, but these lights were as small as the eye of a needle. A third, fourth, and fifth source of light appeared. They were small piercing dots of light that cut through the darkness. Then Heros saw more, below him and above him. They were appearing all over the room.

Although the beast continued to release its cry, it grew fainter and fainter. The dots of light grew asymmetrically, cutting through the darkness to make it look more like black smoke. Heros looked down at his feet to see that even the blackness that was his floor began to dissipate.

_This can't be good_, Heros thought. At some point it became less of the lights _appearing_ so much as it seemed the darkness was _disappearing_. As the darkness began to fade quicker and quicker, less and less of the floor was there. Heros was hopping around, trying to avoid the spots of light. He may have disliked the room he was in, but at least he knew that the darkness was solid. He had no idea what would happen if the light touched him. Before long, he ran out of places to hop to. He ran out of darkness. The beast's cries had entirely faded, and so had the darkness. As the last part he was standing on began to fade, Heros held his breath. Then Heros fell through the light.


	5. Chapter 5: The Doorkeeper

**Chapter Five: The Door-keeper**

Heros had his eyes closed and was still holding his breath. He fell only a few feet, but to him it felt like he was falling into a never-ending abyss. His feet hit the floor and, unready for the impact, his knees buckled. He fell entirely onto the floor and his heart dropped into his stomach. He opened his eyes and began checking over his self, as if to be assured he was really alive.

"Heros?" An awfully familiar voice rang. Looking back, Heros could see Evek was the one inquiring. Force was next to him with a big smile on his face. Both of them began walking towards Heros. "Are you alright?" Evek continued, outstretching a hand of assistance to Heros.

Grabbing Evek's hand, Heros made his way back to his feet. "Yeah, I think so." He looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. He was starting to feel a recurring theme in the tower's décor. This room had looked downright identical to every other room they'd been in so far: very large and mostly empty, circular in shape, high ceilings, and walls made of lively coloured blocks. The colours were hard to make out, though, as the tower was so poorly lit with the only available light in each room seeping in from cracks in the walls or spots where blocks had been missing, perhaps intentionally.

"Where are Mise and Vol?" Force tentatively inquired. "Are they with you?"

"...Vol..." Heros muttered with a worried tone. "And Mise..." his tone quickly changed, to one of dislike. "No. They're not. The last thing I saw before I... Well, whatever happened to me – was Mise running for Vol on the other side of the room. She had been hit. Hurt, I think. Mise was going to check on her and then... that was it, all I saw was darkness after that."

Evek comforted Heros by placing his hand on Heros' shoulder. "Don't worry, Heros. I'm sure they're okay. Sounds like the same thing happened to you that happened to us."

"Wait," Heros' voice grew curious, "that's right. Where... are we? How did I get here?"

Force crossed his arms over his chest, looking down towards the floor as he spoke. "All I remember was getting sucked into that darkness. Then, there were lights. Large lights... and they came at me. I swung my sword at it and then... Yeah, I was just here. In this room." Force sounded unsure of himself. "Evek was already here."

Evek nodded, "That's right. Whatever that thing was in the darkness, it tried attacking me again once I was immersed in it. I defended myself with my spells and the next thing I knew, I was here. Then there was a terribly bright light and when it dimmed, Force was there. Then you."

Heros just looked around the room, soaking in their words. His eyes seemed blank, he was clearly trying to understand everything. "What about Mise and Vol? Do you think they're okay?" He asked.

Force chuckled, "Trust me, I'm sure they're fine. I've known Vol for awhile now and if I've learned anything about her it's that she can hold her own. I'm certain she'll look after Mise."

Heros wanted to comment on how he felt Force had the two's roles reversed, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Then Heros realized something: "There's... no doors," he digressed. He took one last quick look around the room to make sure he didn't miss any; he didn't. "How do we get out? How do we continue?"

Force and Evek glanced at each other. "I hadn't noticed," Evek commented.

"You're right," Force added.

As if the tower itself had been listening, Heros' question was answered as the room shook enough to make the three adventurers adjust their balance. Heros' head filled with quips like _Great, what now?_ but looking back on his experience so far, he figured he really should have been ready for this one. It didn't change the fact that he wasn't.

All of their attention was drawn towards the far wall, which seemed to be crumbling under the strain of the shaking. Dust rhythmically fell from the ceiling. Dots of sunlight began to peer through more and more cracks in the wall all around the room, but this particular wall seemed to be systematically pushing out bricks to form an opening to a new room. Soon enough the room had grown still again, with the far wall now offering a passage to another chamber of the tower, its bricks strewn all over the ground in front of the opening.

"That was convenient," Evek snorted.

"Is it just me, recovering from that quake, or are those blocks still shaking?" Heros observed.

They all peered, and waited, and saw nothing.

"You're just seeing things," Force concluded. "Let's go, quick. Before we over-stay our welcome in this blasted tower." He signaled for the others to follow as he began cautiously approaching the newly made gap in the chamber's wall.

But the nearer they got to the doorway-like hole, the more nervous Heros became. "I'm serious. Those blocks are moving." Heros was downright sure of himself.

Evek and Heros stopped following Force. "You know... I think he's right," Evek said, his lips beginning to quiver.

"The tower's just getting to you both, it's fine." Force reassured the uneasy explorers. But the closer he got to the blocks, the slower his pace became. Then he too stopped and even began to slowly back away from the blocks. "...it's fine." He repeated, this time with absolutely no confidence in his tone.

As Force backed away from the blocks and towards his two companions, it became very aware that something was wrong. The blocks began moving, though they had no feet. They slid across the floor towards each other until they all lay in a massive pile as tall as Force.

"What magic is this?" Force demanded.

"I... don't know," was all Evek could manage to push past his clasped lips, his eyes lit with both fear and awe.

There wasn't much more conversation, or time for it. The blocks were still shuffling about in their pile, making all sorts of clanging noises as they collided with each other like a group of blind animals. By all rights they shouldn't have been able to move yet they were somehow bound to each other, and before long the pile was fading only to reveal what appeared to be legs. The bricks continued to work upwards, magically drawn to this forming shape, linking with each other to eventually reveal a massive body, arms, and head atop the already formed legs.

"It's a golem!" Heros concluded. The others didn't say anything but only gave Heros a confused stare. Heros could see they didn't know what he was talking about, but he knew he wouldn't have time to explain. "Look out!"

Force heeded Heros' warning and quickly sidestepped out of the way of the golem's brick fist which had come down to slam the ground. As the creature's hand struck the floor a few of its brick components flew off.

"It's incredibly strong, don't let it hit you! We're going to have to be patient and break it down piece by piece," Heros commanded his squad mates.

The brick golem was at least twice the size of Force but was far from slow. Wasting no time, it rose its fist from the floor and made a horizontal swing at Force. The warrior was barely able to jump backwards in time to avoid the beast's blow, then pulled his sword from his sheath and gripped it firmly with both his hands. "That was close," Force quipped.

The three adventurers spread themselves evenly in a circle around the golem, cautiously waiting to see which one the monster would strike for next. Raising both its arms in the air the golem spun half way around, facing right towards Evek. Without any warning at all, the huge brick fists began a downward swing at the comparatively tiny mage.

With his golden rod in his hands, Evek didn't move a muscle. Instead, at what seemed like the last possible moment, Evek closed his eyes and suddenly vanished in a strange bright blue flash. In less than a blink of Heros' eye, Evek had vanished from under the golem's fists only to reappear behind it. As the fists struck the floor the entire tower shook, and a little more of the creature's brick body crumbled and fell to the floor.

Heros was in awe: "Evek, that was incredible!"

"Heros, stay focused!" Force shouted sternly as he leaped towards the golem's exposed side, striking downwards at the beast with his sword as hard as he could. Slashing against the bricks, the sword appeared to do little damage other than knock just a few more of the golem's components to the floor.

"Right!" Heros returned his attention to the golem, who was now wildly swaying its arms around trying to catch a hit on Force or Evek. Heros took advantage of the fact that the golem seemed unaware of him by quickly letting off a few arrows at the monster. Much like Force's sword, however, the arrows just bounced off the monster with little to no effect, hardly even chipping the reinforced bricks.

Determined to make more of an impact, Heros drew two arrows from his quiver simultaneously. He took a step back, placed the arrows in line with his bowstring and firmly drew them back. Taking aim at the back of the golem's head, Heros squinted one eye and slowly let out a deep breath just before releasing his bowstring.


	6. Chapter 6: Reunited

**Chapter Six: Reunited**

The arrows flew true and fast, striking the golem right in the back. With the combined force of the arrows they were able to partially pierce the beast's strong skin. Immediately, the golem rose its hands in the air and let out a primeval growl. It then turned to face the source of this new pain.

"Uh-oh," Heros stepped back. "I don't think he liked that."

"Keep that up!" Evek cheered Heros on.

Heros took another two arrows out of his quiver and began to ready his shot when the golem began running towards the distraught archer. Its massive feet shook the room with every step. Despite its size it was capable of sprinting towards Heros at an unexplainable speed. Frantic and scared, the archer quickly aimed and released his shot.

But in his frenzy the archer was unable to reproduce his previously portrayed accuracy: the arrows flew in different directions and struck the charging beast in completely different places, having little effect. Force and Evek were chasing after the monster, trying to offer their aid but they simply couldn't keep up with the golem. Evek even tried firing a few magical blasts at the golem's back but to no avail.

Heros panicked and froze, dropping his bow to the floor. The golem reached down and easily scooped up the terrified adventurer into its makeshift brick fist. Wasting no time the seemingly invincible monster began squeezing the helpless Heros, who let out justified shrieks of pain.

Desperate to help, Force jumped as high as he could, making a daring lunge towards the golem's back with both hands gripping the sword risen over his head. With all his might the courageous warrior swung his razor sharp blade straight down. The blade actually managed to penetrate deep into the beast's armour so high on its back that, hanging on to the sword's hilt, Force's feet didn't even reach the floor.

The golem roared out in pain once more, releasing its grip on Heros enough for Heros to begin trying to wiggle his way out. In a seemingly more annoyed than pained manner, the golem quickly swung itself around to see what had just hurt it. Unprepared for this, Force lost his grip on his sword and tumbled to the floor rather harshly. The sword was wedged in so deep that it remained in the golem's back.

As the golem finished its turn it was welcomed only by a big blue magical blast that Evek had fired at it. Hit directly in the chest, the golem stumbled backwards caught completely off guard. But the blast didn't do nearly as much damage as Evek had hoped who was now visibly exhausted having just put all his remaining energy into that one massive blast. Although the golem was now falling apart a little more with every step from the cumulative attacks of the adventurers, it was seeming more and more like they just didn't have enough in them to finish this massive monster off for good.

The golem regained its composure and stepped back towards Evek, raising its free hand high above its head in a fist. Too tired to even try and dodge the incoming attack, Evek just peered up at the massive fist with distraught eyes.

"Evek!" Force cried out, only just now getting back to his feet.

Just as the golem was prepared to deliver a fatal blow to the defenseless Evek, the unexpected happened. From an unseen source flew two small objects that traveled incredibly fast before striking the golem's raised fist, knocking several of its blocks off. The force of this impact surprised the golem so much that it released Heros who grunted as he fell to the floor.

"We leave you and look at the mess you get yourselves into," a familiar voice called out.

"Mise?" Force exclaimed.

From beyond the previously made hole in the wall came both Mise and Vol, side by side, sprinting into the room eager to assist their squad mates.

"You take care of this... thing! I'll get Evek," Mise commanded his sister, who nodded in confirmation.

Mise sprinted for Evek, grasping a few more throwing stars from his small pouch, tossing them at the golem in different spots to keep the distraught gargantuan off balance. Making his way quickly to Evek, Mise wrapped one of Evek's arms around his own neck and helped Evek get out of the battle area as quickly as Evek could manage to move his legs.

Vol, meanwhile, headed straight for the golem's legs displaying no hesitation or fear at all. She drew her dagger, holding it backwards in her left hand. Then she pulled out another that was wrapped around her ankle, concealed, and held it in the same manner in her right hand. Her face showing nothing but pure determination she began to assault the monster's legs quicker than lightning with both daggers.

Her attacks were hardly having any effect with each single strike but caused cumulative damage to the golem's limbs as she struck the same spots over and over again. The agitated beast focused all its attention on the relatively tiny target that was swiftly moving between its legs, darting from side to side to avoid the golem's vain attempts to kick and stomp the agile girl. This distraction easily afforded Mise the time needed to get Evek to safety, and allowed Heros and Force to compose themselves.

Heros had reclaimed his bow and reached back to feel his quiver, noticing he was beginning to run low on arrows. If he ran out, he'd practically be of no use. Drawing one of his few remaining arrows, he held it in line with his bowstring but did not fire. He knew that every shot he had left had to count.

Force was still without his sword, but wasn't about to give up. With the golem firmly focused on Vol, Force got as close to it as he could without drawing attention to himself, then waited. Vol ran in circles around the golem's feet as she struck them with her twin daggers, occasionally passing between its feet to keep it off guard. This caused the golem to twist and turn in an attempt to keep its eyes on Vol. At the first available opportunity, as soon as the golem turned its back to Force, he acted.

Leaping as high as he could Force barely managed to wrap his right hand around the hilt of his sword. Grasping on with all his might he was able to swing his other hand up to get a much firmer grip on his treasured sword. Unaware of what Force had done, the massive monster just continued its almost juvenile attempts to crush Vol.

Heros just stood back and watched, his arrow still lined up with his bowstring, waiting for the perfect shot. His eyes scanned over the affair. He watched as Vol began to show signs of exhaustion, the rate of her strategic dagger strikes dropping significantly. He peered on as Force struggled to release his blade from the creature's brick-like back. He even noticed Mise making his return to the battle having gotten Evek to the hole in the wall. Still, though, Heros couldn't find a spot on the golem where his arrow would do any good.

Mise began bombarding the golem with as many small projectiles as he could spare, throwing two or three at a time. Vol was beginning to move slower and the golem was getting closer and closer to actually connecting with her. She stopped striking its legs and decided to put all her energy towards avoiding the creature.

Force used his grip on the sword to swing his freely hanging feet up and pressed them firmly against the golem's back, pushing with his legs and pulling with his arms as eagerly as he could to reclaim his weapon. After a few moments of complete exertion his labours had paid off as his blade slid free, causing Force to fall. He immediately released his grip on the hilt of his sword and swung his body around in mid-air to face the ground, tucking his knees to allow his feet to get back under him. He barely managed to land on the balls of his feet but used the momentum of his fall to perform a somersault-like roll that allowed him to spring back to his feet.

Wasting no time, Force rushed to his sword which had not fallen far from him. He gripped it tightly in his hands and decided to take up Vol's idea, rushing like a madman towards the golem's legs. He drew his large blade back in anticipation of a mighty swing and let out a barbaric battle cry. Harbouring all his momentum from his sprint and using all the might he could muster in his arms, Force cleaved directly through the thoroughly weakened golem's right leg.

Suddenly supporting all the massive beast's weight, the equally-as-weakened left leg shattered. It let out a pained growl as the beast was brought to its knees, forced to press its large hands against the floor to keep itself up. All five of the adventurers had a well deserved grin on their faces as they watched the not-so-invincible monstrosity writhe in pain. That's when Heros saw it.


	7. Chapter 7: Evek's Talent

**Chapter Seven: Evek's Talent**

On the golem's back where Force's blade had been deeply embedded there was a shimmer of light. It was as if the golem had a small star inside it and the light emitting from it was peering out of the crack left from Force's sword. Heros knew in his heart this was the time to use one of his few arrows. Afraid that the golem would pull some new trick out of its sleeve, Heros wasted no time. Pulling his bowstring back, he took aim at the monster's newly exposed weakness. With the squint of of his right eye, he steadied his hands and calmed his breaths. And then he released.

Displaying inexplicable and perhaps even fortuitous aim, Heros' arrow traveled through the almost impossibly narrow crack. As it passed into the golem, it seemed to simply disappear, engulfed by the dim protruding light. The golem made no response. It let out no pained wail like it had previously. It did, however, freeze. It lay perfectly still, its arms gently keeping it propped upright on its shattered legs.

The band of adventurers slowly stopped their onslaught of attacks as they began to notice the golem had stopped moving. They all gazed at it, and then at each other, and then back at it.

"Uh..." Mise eloquently grunted.

"My thoughts exactly," Vol added.

Evek was on the far side of the fairly large chamber, but even he could see that something was awry. "Is it dead?" Evek had to shout for his query to reach his partners.

"I shot it." Heros informed Mise, Vol and Force who had gathered together. "I mean, inside it. I mean..." Heros stuttered for the right words. "A light, I saw something inside of it. Coming out of its back, where you penetrated it Force. I shot that."

"I didn't see it," Force said with a confused tone.

But before the adventurers could clear up their confusions, the golem began to shake; not move, but rumble as it had before it was even assembled. Force and Heros, recognizing this movement, began to back away while Mise and Vol still peered on.

"You don't want to stand there," Heros advised his twin partners as he continued to slowly step away. They looked back when he spoke, seeing him and Force backing away. Not being fools, they joined the two who were already halfway to Evek.

The beast's rumbling became more and more fierce but it still had not moved from its position. More and more of its blocks tumbled to the floor from the makeshift humanoid, further inspiring the group to believe they had finally won. Without warning, the dim light from within the golem became more vigourous. The light quickly went from hardly noticeably to nearly blinding in a flash causing the golem to explode. The monster's components were violently thrown in all directions.

The adventurers, reacting as quickly as they could, shielded their face and dropped to the floor in a ball. The explosion made surprisingly little noise, apart from the impacts of the individual bricks against the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. When the thuds of the bricks slowed to a halt, each of the five group members slowly uncovered their eyes to see the light gone, the golem gone, and its pieces lying all over the room.

Heros slowly rose to his feet remaining cautiously optimistic that the incredibly deadly beast they had just encountered had actually been bested without any casualties. He stepped over to Vol and extended his hand to offer his aid in helping her to her feet. To his dismay as Vol reached towards his hand it was intercepted by Mise's, which quickly clasped his sister's as Mise pulled her to her feet. He gave Heros a cold stare throughout.

Grunting in resignation, Heros instead walked to the nearby Force and then offered him aid instead. But as Heros outstretched his hand he could tell something was wrong. Force lay still on his knees, partially curled up in the shape he had dropped to take cover. His hands had strayed from his face and was instead clenching his left side just under his chest. Crimson liquid was strewn over his hands.

"Oh no... Force!" Heros exclaimed, seeking the attention of his fellow adventurers.

Vol and Mise quickly made their way over. With a face that displayed no emotion Mise stood next to Force with his hands crossed over his chest as he kept his head half turned away from Force, as if to keep one eye on Force and the other on the rest of the room. Vol noticed the blood and rose her hands to her mouth, her eyes slightly tearing up.

"Ah, it's not that bad," Force hardly managed to say. He tried raising himself from his knees but didn't make it very far as he collapsed in pain, still rigidly pressing against his wound.

Evek had been making his way over to the group since Heros shouted but was just now beginning to come close to them. He gasped slightly and hurried the rest of the distance when he saw why they were all huddling around Force. He quickly knelt beside the injured cohort and eyed over the wound.

"How'd it happen?" Vol tearfully asked.

"I think..." Force slowly said. Between winces of pain, he continued, "It was right after the golem burst. I suppose I didn't take cover soon enough," Force explained as he reluctantly removed his hands from his injury, revealing two disfigured portions of the golem that had broken from the force of the explosion, finding their way deep into Force's side. "It's not that bad," Force halfheartedly repeated his earlier sentiment as he began to press against his side again.

"Stop," Evek quickly interjected. Evek pulled Force's hands away from the wound causing him to wince. "Sorry," Evek muttered, but kept Force's hands away from the injury.

"What are you doing?" Heros inquired.

"Just trust me," Evek simply answered.

"Look, we need to get him out of here. If we all help to carry him we should be able to get him back down the tower and get him to a priest in time to save him." Evek didn't say a word as he continued to calmly look at the wound, so Heros insisted: "Evek!"

"Just..." Evek began to say in a frustrated tone before soothing his voice and finishing with, "trust me."

Mise scoffed as he kept his head half cocked with an increasingly unconcerned expression showing on his face. Heros couldn't figure out if Mise knew something that Heros didn't, or if he just had no heart. Either way, Heros almost had as much of Mise as he could handle up to this point. Subsiding his anger, Heros refocused his eyes onto the investigative Evek.

"Right," Evek suddenly declared, "I'll need your help here Heros. Force, stay strong. I need you to lie flat on your back. Then, Heros, I need you to pin down his shoulders. Uh..." Evek hesitated, "Vol you may want to help. Force is pretty strong," Evek chuckled as he ordered around his confused cohorts.

Mise scoffed again realizing his help wasn't desired. He finally decided to do away with any facade of concern by completely turning his back to the group and slowly making his way for the large hole in the wall left by the golem.

Force was just as confused as the rest of the group but was in too much pain to raise any sort of complaint. He slowly lay on the ground and placed his hands flat on the ground by his sides. Heros and Vol both briefly gave each other quizzical looks before complying. Vol knelt beside Force on the left, pressing both her palms flat against his shoulder and held him down with all her strength. Heros made his way to Force's right side, dropping one knee to the ground and the other onto Force's bicep. He placed both hands down on Force on either side of his knee, one on Force's shoulder and the other on Force's elbow.

"Hold him steady," Evek warned the two. But hardly a warning it was as briefly after saying such, Evek gripped one of the two pieces of shrapnel sticking deep into Force's side and yanked with no regard for delicacy. The piece of golem slid easily free from Force's flesh, but the complete and utter shock of the act caused him to jerk in pain. Shocked but not overwhelmed, Heros and Vol quickly pressed all their weight down on the massive injured warrior to keep him restrained.

"A little more of a warning next time, Evek?" Heros grunted in frustration, but was hardly able to complete his plea before Evek grabbed the remaining piece and did exactly the same. Force cried out yet again, trying his best to wiggle free from the grasp of his partners. His legs kicked and slammed against the floor, but his upper body stayed virtually still due to the efforts of Heros and Vol.

"Sorry," Evek said finally, "but I find that's the best way to do it. Anticipation just kills me, doesn't it you?"

Through continuous grunts, moans, sighs and cries of pain, Force managed to let "We'll never know now," slip out of his mouth.

"Just a moment more," Evek reassured his writhing patient as he pulled from his burlap garments yet again his concealed short gold rod. Not grasping it in one hand as he had been doing every time he used it before now Evek instead held it horizontally over the wound, one hand on either end of the rod. He closed his eyes and appeared to be doing nothing at all.

Within a moment Evek's hands began to shimmer with a peculiar white light that seemed to emanate from his palms and quickly began to surround his rod as well. Heros looked on in amazement, and even Vol seemed rightfully captivated by Evek's talent, though neither truly knew what Evek was preparing to do. Force was too concerned with controlling his breathing and remaining conscience to even pay attention to the latest trick Evek was revealing.

After fully engulfing Evek's hands the white light began to turn to an invitingly light green, and then the white light around Evek's magic rod began shifting green too. As all the light turned fully green, a beam of the mysterious energy shot from the middle of Evek's horizontal rod and hit Force, quickly beginning to spread over the entirety of his large, built body. Force didn't react to it at all, but did watch as the green light washed over him.

The light began to creep up Force's chest and arms, reaching the shoulders where Vol and Heros had been pinning him down. Suddenly unsure of the whole situation, Heros released his grip on Force's shoulder for which he was quickly reprimanded by Evek, prompting Heros to swiftly reestablish his hold. The green light harmlessly caressed only Force's body, passing under Heros' and Vol's hands as if they weren't there.

Evek continued to focus his energy, pulsing this green light through his rod and onto Force. The light grew slightly brighter, encompassing all of Force's body, and then quickly faded. It faded from Force, it faded from Evek's rod, and it faded from his hands until the light was just gone.


	8. Chapter 8: Going Up

**Chapter Eight: Going Up**

Force gasped and, having regained his strength, lifted both Vol and Heros off his shoulders so he could move his arms once more. He immediately clasped his side again before realizing that it no longer pained him. After holding it for a brief moment, he began to release his side and look down at what used to be his wound. His shirt remained torn and ripped, but his wound was completely healed – not even a scar. Heros and Vol looked on in awe.

"You're a bishop?" Heros enthusiastically inquired.

"No," Evek answered. "Well, I'm in training. I'm not really a bishop yet. If your wound had been worse, Force, or if I hadn't acted when I did... I'm not sure there would have been anything I could have done."

Force propped himself onto his elbows, pushing his body up so he could sit upright beside his three kneeling companions. "Well then..." Force slowly began, searching for the right words. "I'm just glad you did."

Vol offered a warm smile before she stood. "Mise, can you belie-" She started to say before realizing her twin had gone off without them. "Where'd Mise go?"

His reply's timing was uncanny as he called out to the group huddling around Force: "You've gotta see this!"

Evek and Heros offered their hands and helped Force back onto his feet before they and Vol all headed towards Mise's call. They approached the large hole in the wall left from the creation of the golem and, somewhat warily, passed through it into the large towering room through which Vol and Mise had rushed to their aid. The room was nearly perfectly round just like the entire tower itself. At the center of the room was a deep blackness which was surrounded by a massive spiral staircase winding around it that led both up and down the tower. The group carefully navigated the scarce dilapidated platform that was the floor and made their way to the torch-lit staircase.

They each in turn gazed down the perilously dark hole in the center of the room. They could make out the winding staircase for quite a distance down because it was lit by occasional torches, but not much else could be seen.

"I'll bet you we're in the dead center of the tower," Evek posited. "This staircase probably spans the entire depth of this forsaken tower like a central column."

"After you guys got sucked into the blackness by that... thing, Mise and I worked together to defeat it," Vol explained. "The door it was guarding ended up leading to this staircase. We were making our way up it when we heard you guys fighting that thing."

The troupe collectively panned their heads up. The sight was quite similar: a foreboding blackness with the occasional piercing light from a torch, only the series of torches didn't seem to go on for nearly as long as they did when looking down.

"Could we be close to the top?" Heros optimistically asked.

"Wish we'd known about this room from the start," Mise jested.

"There's a lot of things about this tower that a lot of people don't know about," Force stoically replied, "that's why we're here. Come on, let's keep moving up." And with that he backed away from the edge and began cautiously trekking up the stairs. Evek followed closely behind.

"After you," Heros motioned for Vol to go ahead of him. She flashed a quick smile and proceeded up the stairs behind Evek. Heros took his place behind her.

Mise didn't fall in line as quickly. As the rest of the group moved slowly upwards, Mise had shifted his attention back to the stairs leading down and how endless the hole seemed. _It can't be endless, _he thought to himself. He moved away from the edge long enough to snag one of the standing torches that lit the staircase near him. He held the light source over the pit and peered down, and then dropped the torch. Mise watched as the flickering flame quickly descended the length of the darkness and then, after growing smaller and smaller, was simply gone. Satisfied with his experiment, Mise began catching up with his partners.

Force had also taken possession of one of the torches and used it to light the way as he led the line of adventurers up the stairs. The troupe followed the spiral staircase as it climbed higher and higher. Not a single member of the group wanted to know how many stairs they had climbed, and for the most part they all remained silent save the occasional wit of Mise. The pockets of light above them were dwindling to single digit numbers.

"I think we're near the top," Force reassured the four following him. "I can't see as many lights ahead of us."

It wasn't long after this comment that they reached the last lit torch and the end of the stairs. Unlike the room in which they had encountered the stairs, there were no more flat platforms for rest. Even at the very top of the stairs was just a door blocking their way and a set of nine knobs adjacent to it. The door was tall and had no sign of a handle, and was entirely unremarkable except for a faintly noticeable crack that vertically spanned the middle of the door.

The staircase had slightly narrowed in places where the block-like material that the tower was made of had apparently become dislodged. As the stairs were just jutting out of the rounded wall surrounding them, the group all tried to stay close to the wall and away from the disheveled looking edges of the stairs. This also meant, however, that they were stuck in the order in which they had began climbing the stairs.

"What now?" Mise asked in frustration, barely able to make out the door at the front of them but enough the see that it was blocking their route. "Doesn't it open?"

"Not that I can see," Force said through a sigh. He handed his torch back to Evek and began to grope the width and height of the door as far as he could reach, looking for some sort of handle or button, or anything. But the door remained unremarkable to both sight and touch as it was perfectly flat and had nothing to grasp.

"What about these knobs?" Evek motioned with the torch to the nine handle-like outcroppings on the wall next to them. "They look like they're meant to be grabbed."

Force nodded in agreement and grasped the handle closest to the door. He tried to twist it but it wouldn't budge, but then tried to pull on it. The handle came out of the wall a short distance, catching the attention of all five of the adventurers.

"That's it," Force triumphantly decided, "we'll just pull all these handles out."

Force released the first handle in an attempt to grab the second one, about an arms length away, but as soon as Force stopped pulling on the handle, it slid right back into the wall to its original position. Frustrated, Force pulled on the lever again and this time tried to twist it in its fully extended position to lock it in place. But it still would not twist, wiggle, or jimmy in any direction. The handles clearly only slid in and out of the wall, and needed to be held in place.

"Well, that won't work then," Evek sighed in resignation. "We have ten hands but I don't think we can reach them all."

"Maybe we don't need to pull them all out," Vol chipped in.

"Good idea," Force said before stretching his full body length to grasp the second handle in addition to the first. He gave them both a pull and held them in their extended position. "You guys grab one."

Evek, Vol, and Heros each grabbed the third, fourth, and fifth handles respectively and pulled them out. Mise reached for the sixth, but before he could pull it out of the wall, the first five handles had been fully extended. The sixth now wouldn't budge at all and there was a great mechanical, rumbling sound as the entire staircase began to shake.

All five of them anxiously awaited for the door to begin opening, but it didn't. The handles suddenly and violently shot back into the wall with such great force that they were ripped right out of everyone's hands. The entire staircase continued to shake but then began to move as it slowly but surely receded into the wall. The five adventurers pressed their backs flat against the wall as they watched the stairs beneath them disappear. After a small portion of the stairs were engulfed by the wall, they stopped moving, the shaking stopped, and the loud mechanical sounds ceased.

"That is... disheartening," Mise said to break the silence.

"We only got five pulled when that happened," Heros nervously pointed out. "And there's nine handles. Do you have any idea how many five handle combinations we can make out of nine?"

"How many?" Force asked.

"Too many, if that happens every time we get it wrong," Vol said through weary lips.

"So we go back down," Mise commanded more than suggested. "There's no way we're going to get it right in time, and if we do it even just a few more times we'll hardly have enough stairs left to make our way down. It's too dangerous."

"He's right," Evek agreed.

"Wait," Heros quickly demanded the group's attention. "Five..." Heros trailed off in thought briefly before continuing, "the old man emphasized five. I don't know about you four, at least, but when he was trying to convince me to come here, he went on and on and the number five; about how I'd be the fifth and that if I got here and there wasn't four others waiting for me, I couldn't go on. Not three, not four, not six. Five."

Force nodded, "Heros is right. That old man must know this tower better than he was letting on. But that could help us. If he was so certain we'd need five, that might be because the combination is on handles that can't be reached by just three or four people, which means the correct handles are spread out."

"That still leaves a lot of possible combinations," Evek sighed. "I still agree with Mise. Let's see what else is down there, maybe there's another way."

"Alright," Heros finally agreed, "maybe that's best." Force and Vol didn't deny it.

The staircase was even slimmer now and no one in the group dared to pass each other. Evek passed the torch through the line until Mise had it, and he began leading the group back down the stairs in reverse, with Heros behind him then Vol, Evek, and Force.

They had hardly made it a quarter of the way back to the point at which they began climbing the stairs when another sound could be heard, this time coming from far below them. It wasn't mechanical nor did it cause the entire chamber to shake like before, but instead was high pitched and noticeably distant.

"What is that?" Evek noticed the sound first, and halted his progress down the stairs.

The rest of the group stopped and strained their ears to hear the noise Evek was talking about, but they did all hear it. It was familiar but hard to place because it was so far below them, and the round chamber was bouncing the sound all around causing all sorts of echoes.

They had happened to halt near one of the wall-mounted sconces. Force ripped it from the wall and held it over the looming pit, for what little good it did. Mise did the same with his torch, and they all carefully peered over the edge.

The sound was growing nearer, or at least certainly louder. The echoes became nearly deafening and the screech was easier and easier to make out. As the five all stared into the blackness below them, none of them had any good ideas about what the sound may have been.

"What was that?" Exclaimed Vol, who swore she had seen a shadowy figure briefly pass through one of the distant pockets of light below them. "There it is again!" She screeched.

"I saw that too," Heros said through his terrified lips.

The other three then saw the figures passing through the areas of light. Force released his torch and let it fly down the hole. It rapidly descended the pit and very briefly illuminated the source of the high pitched wailing that was approaching the group: more spiders.


	9. Chapter 9: Third Time's Not The Charm

**Chapter Nine: Third Time's Not The Charm**

The spiders were the same as before, large and vicious. Their abdomens swayed back and forth as they scurried up the stairs and sides of the walls towards the group. There seemed to be an endless supply of them as they went from occasional sightings to flooding the pockets of light.

"Back up!" Force declared and immediately began sprinting back up the staircase. Evek was right behind him and Vol tried to keep up. Mise didn't move.

"You can't be serious!" Heros begged Mise, "come on!"

"I can bottleneck them here," Mise tried to explain, "and give you guys some time to open that door."

"Heroic idea, but they can climb on walls not just the stairs. Besides we may need your help, it's a five switch combo, remember? Come on!" Heros repeated.

Mise flashed Heros a quick look, then looked back down at the approaching spiders. He conceded and they both made their way back up the staircase, already a fair distance behind the other three.

Force was sprinting so fast that he almost ran right into the door when it rapidly approached. He stopped and turned, waiting for the others to catch up. Evek, Vol, Heros, and Mise eventually reached the top and positioned themselves ready to pull a switch. Force tried his best to coordinate them, but it wasn't his strong suit.

"Alright, let's try one, three, five, seven, and nine. Those are the most spread out," Force suggested.

Everyone gripped their respective handles and gave them a tug. They all fully extended and briefly locked into place before the loud, whirring noise came back. Everyone exchanged worried glances as the sound grew louder before the staircase again began to slide into the wall. It seemed to be disappearing into the wall even faster this time; the machinery must have been old and now it had been warmed up. Before long the noise stopped and the staircase locked into place with even more of it now missing.

"Fantastic," Mise contributed.

"Do you have a better idea?" Force angrily snapped at his partner at the far end of the line.

"Does it matter? Any combo we think of is going to be random. Let's all just grab a handle!" Vol said in an attempt to defend her brother.

Without discussion, the company complied. Without reason or rhyme they all grabbed for a different handle and pulled. For a third time the handles locked in place and triggered the discomforting sound of machinery, and for a third time the stairs slipped into the wall. It was even faster this time, and receded into the wall more than the last two times. When it all came to a stop, the stairs were just over half gone.

"Forget this," Force said in a frustrated tone. "Evek, Vol, I'll need your help. Heros and Mise, try to hold off the spiders as long as possible if it comes to that. Mise, give the torch to Vol."

Heros wasn't looking forward to that task, but nodded in compliance. He turned his back to the door and faced down the stairs, drawing his bow and an arrow from its quiver. Mise remained in front of Heros and handed the torch back to Heros, who passed it to Vol. Mise prepared himself by reaching into his satchel and pulling out several long, narrow, shiny silver throwing daggers. Each and every single one of them had a small bit of red ribbon secured to the end opposite the blade.

"How many of those do you have?" Heros asked.

"How many arrows do _you_ have?" Mise sarcastically replied.

Mise fanned the blades out, five in each hand. He seemed to be checking them for something but Heros couldn't tell what. When Mise seemed satisfied, he slipped five of the daggers into five slots in his wardrobe on his left shoulder with the handle sticking out, and then did the same with five more on his right shoulder. Mise then took out ten more and repeated the entire process more quickly, this time tucking them into slots on his left and right hips.

Force, meanwhile, unsheathed his sword and held it in his left hand. He used his right hand to once again search the surface of the door in the dark. He continued running his hand across the smooth surface until it ran over the subtle bump that was the slit in the middle of the door. Force placed his hand over it and guided the tip of his blade with his hand, pressing it into the notch. When he was sure that he'd gotten the very tip of his sword into the notch, he grasped the handle of his blade with both hands and positioned himself on the other side of the door and blade. With the hilt at chest level, Force summoned all his strength and began pushing the blade into the door.

"What are you doing?" Evek asked.

But before Force answered, his sword began sliding into the crack of the door, ever so slightly forcing it open. Force continued to push with all his might until the hilt of his sword was nearly touching the door.

"We're going to pry this door open," Force finally answered. "Come here you two, get a good grip on the hilt."

As Evek and Vol squeezed together so they could both get a grip on the door, Force put himself in the corner of the door and wall, his sword in front of him. With no room for him to grasp the hilt, Force improvised by ripping some loose leather from his pant legs and wrapping it in strips around both his hands as makeshift gloves. Now he could safely grasp what little of the blade was sticking out of the door.

"Pull!" Force succinctly commanded, and the three began to pull on Force's sword towards the wall, trying to wedge the door open more.

The spiders were quickly ascending the stairs, their wail still bouncing off the walls but noticeably closer. Heros wanted to fire blindly down the pit and hope he was doing some damage, but he was low on arrows and didn't want to waste a single one. He knew that waiting until the spiders were close enough to get a clear shot in this dim lighting would be dangerous, but didn't see any other option.

The door began to open though only very slightly. The door was unlike the rest of the tower and was not constructed of the brick-like material, but was instead two solid slats of stone. It was significantly heavier than the blocks making up the tower and very difficulty to wedge open. After even more straining, the three had managed to slide the doors open a fair amount.

"Evek!" Force called out, "quick! Let go and wedge something into the door!"

Evek didn't hesitate. He released the hilt and let Vol take the whole thing as he knelt, trying to pull a section of the staircase off from the edge. He gave a mighty pull and a couple of bricks snapped off, one remaining in Evek's hands and the others falling into the darkness. Evek immediately slid the brick into the gap they had made in the door.

Force and Vol let go, not because they knew the stopper was in place but simply because they couldn't hold on any longer. The sword flung back from their grip like a spring. The door, no longer held open by their effort, tried to quickly slam shut but was successfully held open by the block put in place by Evek. Force reacted quickly and fell to his knees, grabbing his blade just before it would have been out of reach.

The horde of spiders had at last caught up and were ready to swarm their position on the haphazard staircase. Mise began throwing the knives he had previously readied in one fluid motion while Heros unleashed arrows at full draw. Their projectiles flew into the crowd of spiders approaching, and with the numbers it was hard to miss. Their weapons pierced the vile creatures, causing a few here and there to lose their grip and fall into the deep abyss.

Force, Evek, and Vol surveyed their hard work. The door was now being held permanently open, but not nearly wide enough for any of the five to fit through. Force returned his blade to its place on his back and stood. The pressure of the door was beginning to crack the brick holding it open, and Force knew he had to act fast.

"We're not going to fit through that," Evek pessimistically pointed out.

"Get ready to go through," Force said, "I have a plan but you'll all have to move fast."

The burly warrior gripped the corner of the door closest to him and showed he only needed a small respite to regain his strength as he began pulling the heavy door open. As the door he was pulling slowly opened, so did the other. When Force was confident that he'd slid the doors open enough, he quickly hopped in between them and spread his legs and hands as wide as he could. The door, momentarily not being held by Force, tried to slam back shut but was stopped now by Force standing between them. He let out a great pained cry, and to the disbelief of Evek and Vol managed to not only hold the door open but continued to push it wider until his limbs were fully stretched.

"Quick!" Force barely managed to say.

Evek went first and crawled on his hands and knees through Force's legs, trying to both be swift but careful enough not to get caught on Force. Vol followed hastily behind.

"Heros! Mise!" Force called out with even more strain in his voice. His entire body was trembling, his muscles bulging from his arms and legs as if they were trying to escape.

The screeches and moans of the spiders made it difficult to hear, but Heros turned his head at what he though was Force calling to him. He saw Force holding the door open with nothing but his own strength, and that Evek and Vol were already beyond the door. Heros turned back to let Mise know that the door was open but was caught off guard by a spider that had crawled up from under the staircase.

The spider wrapped one of its hideously long legs around Heros and pulled him to the ground, trying to pull him right off the stairs. Heros called out in surprise, dropping his bow and just barely managing to grab the edge of the stairs. It now became a struggle of Heros trying to hold himself up, and the spider trying to pull Heros' legs down into its mouth.

Mise heard Heros shout and turned to see his comrade dangling from the edge. Grasping the last of his readied knives, Mise threw them with great force at the spider, seemingly bending them around Heros so they'd hit their mark. The spider cried loudly and let go of Heros, and the stairs, falling to its sure demise.

Mise kept his back turned to the spiders approaching from the stairs and knelt to help Heros up from the ledge. Heros grasped Mise's hand tightly and began pulling himself up. Both of them were so focused on the task at hand that neither saw a stray spider creeping up the stairs. The spider had broken away from the main pack and had quickly sprinted the distance towards the two struggling adventurers, giving Mise no chance to see it charging him.

Heros had made little progress towards getting back on his feet when the spider violently slammed its entire abdomen against Mise from behind. Mise was hit with such force that the goggles around his forehead slipped right off, landing just on the edge. Mise himself wasn't as lucky, as the blow struck him clear off the stairs and he fell into the deep abyss. Before he even could call for help, or Heros reach out to grab him, Mise disappeared into the darkness.

Heros' fight or flight instinct kicked in. Scurrying to his feet, he reclaimed his bow and gripped it tightly with both hands. Viciously he struck the spider responsible for Mise's departure over and over, relentless bringing all the might his small stature could muster down on the spider's body. At first seemingly unaffected, the recurring strikes eventually caused the spider to stumble and fall over. Heros continued to swing at the monster until it rolled over the edge and also fell.

Heros knew the spiders were still coming, in much greater force, and were now right on his heels. Thinking quickly, Heros spotted and grabbed Mise's goggles and sprinted up the small remainder of stairs towards the open door. He scuttled between Force's legs. Just as the spiders were upon them, Force removed himself from the doorway, letting the doors slam shut.


	10. Chapter 10: The Throne Room

**Chapter Ten: The Throne Room**

"Where's Mise?" Vol asked immediately.

There was a long, very uncomfortable silence. Heros didn't say a word and not once brought his eyes to meet Vol's. Force had even seen the tragedy from his position in the door, and also remained silent. Evek's eyes scanned over everyone else and although he would have said something, he had nothing to say. Vol's fiery eyes remained fixed on Heros, piercing him, the last one through the door.

"Where is Mise?" Vol finally asked again, this time her voice shaken and her eyes welling with tears. She knew the answer; it wasn't like there were many places he could have been, but she still wanted to hear it out loud. A third time, louder, she demanded: "Where is Mise?"

"Gone," Heros barely said. There was another long silence. No one was looking at each other, their eyes all either fixed to the floor or wandering around the room. Vol couldn't hold back her tears and they steadily, but gently, streamed down her cheeks. She didn't make any sounds, she just cried.

"I'm really sorry," Evek said to Vol.

"He saved my life," Heros finally felt as though he could speak since Evek broke the silence first. He continued, "he pulled me up, or was trying to. I don't know what happened. A spider was right there, right on top of us. And then Mise was gone and I... I just got through the door as fast as possible." Heros knelt next to Vol, who was on her knees with her legs folded underneath her, and handed her Mise's goggles. He didn't say anything else.

Vol took the goggles in both hands and held them in front of her face, her eyes carefully surveying what she held, trying to take it all in: this was all that was left of her brother. With this thought, more tears were unleashed in a quick flurry of cries, this time accompanied with audible sobs. They were short lived and after just a few moments she took a deep breath and wiped her face clear of tears. She fastened the goggled to her belt, securing them very tightly so they were hanging free but were in no danger of becoming loose. Without another word, she stood and turned, and began surveying the room.

It was much better lit than any other room in the tower they'd seen so far. Like many previous rooms, it was mostly lit by small to large gaps in the room's walls, letting in some daylight. Much like the dark staircase, the room was also lit by dozens of pairs of torches mounted on pillars leading down a central passageway. Unlike any other room, however, this one also had sections of the walls that were cleanly cut in line, unlike the haphazard gaps, meant to serve as actual windows.

The chamber was also the largest by far: it seemed at least two stories tall, and looked as though it went on and on forever. The door they'd just come from was little more than a footnote on a massive pillar in the center of the room, a room which was as wide as the very tower itself, indicating that the staircase they'd just used surely must have been at the very center of the entire tower. The very grandiosity of the room demanded that it had to have been the top and final floor of Eos Tower. The remaining four were close to their goal.

"Where's the treasure?" Force pondered. "The old man said the highest floor would be our reward: endless gold, jewels, precious things. I don't see any of that!" Force, for the first time, lost his cool tone and let angst ring in his voice clearly.

"Well, hold on. It's a big room," Evek observed, "let's circle around and check the entire chamber before we start getting upset."

Force and Evek both began heading around the center pillar in one direction. Vol, without even turning back to give her friends a look, began treading down what seemed like a passageway made by the pairs of columns lit by torches. Heros considered following her and trying to console her, but he felt it was better if she were alone for now. Instead, he began heading around the center pillar in the opposite direction as Force and Evek, straying from the pillar and meandering closer to the edge of the room.

Heros was wholly unimpressed. Other than the sheer size of the room, it differed very little from every other single room they'd been in so far. Worse, it was devoid of the reward they'd been promised by the old man. "You shall find the untold riches on Eos Tower's highest floor," the old man's words rang in Heros' ears.

Vol's trip down the column-lined passage was nearing its end as she approached a massive throne with a dark, round, shadowed silhouette resting upon it. She halted her progress to study the figure in front of her, but from the distance she couldn't make anything out through the shadows. She slowly walked closer and closer to the figure, but immediately stopped again when she saw it moving.

From the shadows lit two globes of piercing white light, spaced from each other and resting on the figure. Vol stood perfectly still as the silhouette began to rise, this rounded darkened shape now even taller as it seemed to float. The white lights partially dimmed but still remained prominent as a deep, beckoning voice echoed across the entire floor: "Who approaches Alishar?"

Its voice was easily heard by the rest of the group and they came running, seeing Vol standing alone before a shrouded creature. They hurried to where they had began, and then headed down the same passage Vol had, ending up right at her side. They all stood ready, but remained unequipped, and gazed in awe.

The source of the voice rustled again, and then began approaching the group very slowly. It easily towered over the adventurers, and answered the question of why this floor had to be so tall. The shape finally began exiting the shadows as it floated closer and closer to the four. It was definitely massive, and was a strange shape: it wasn't perfectly circular, but was round in shape, and had no signs of extremities.

The piercing white globes became unspectacular as they crossed into the light, and were its eyes. Its mouth lay a great distance below its eyes, nearly at its bottom, and was lined with monstrously sharp teeth. It was mostly blue save for a patch of white that covered what could loosely be described as its front, only because that was where its eyes and mouth lay. A strip of fabric, like a belt, was wrapped around the creature's entirety just below its mouth and had keys of various shapes and sizes hooked to it. What looked like a shiny blue gem was fixed to the belt's center. Upon its top lay a peculiar hat that itself was taller than any of the adventurers and had at its top a clock, though the clock had far too many hands ticking at different speeds and a great many numbers scattered about its face.

The frightening beast stopped after it had wholly exited the shadows, but remained floating just above the floor. Its eyes didn't seem to move at all, and its mouth remained shut. It just hovered in place waiting for an answer.

"We're looking for the treasure of Eos Tower," Force said, stepping in front of his three cohorts.

"You may not have it," the creature replied simply. Its voice remained impressive and daunting, especially loud as he was now even closer to the adventurers. Its mouth moved, but hardly opened at all as it talked. The mouth nearly spanned its entire width, so Heros for one was glad to see it remaining mostly shut.

"We've come all the way up the tower and made great sacrifices to uncover the treasure of Eos Tower. We must have it," Force insisted.

"Did that stubborn man send you?" Its eyes gleamed gently. "Be wise, turn back now and tell that man that he will never get his hands on it."

Heros was reminded of his conversation with the old man in the Adventurer's Guild. "All I ask in return for providing you with this information is one of the treasures," the old man had told Heros. "It's nothing you'd be interested in, anyway. There will be plenty of mesos and jewels. What I want is small and blue, and could otherwise easily be overlooked. It's about as big as your palm and will be jagged, like it was broken off of something."

Heros stepped forward besides Force and demanded answers to questions that the old man would only cryptically avoid: "Who are you? How do you know about the man, and what he wants? What is it?"

The massive figure in front of them then did something very unexpected: it laughed. It bellowed from its mouth a haughty laughter before finally replying, "You don't even know for what you search? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he told you nothing. However, I cannot tell you either. I am Alishar, and I keep it safe."

"Fine," Force once again took over the dialogue, "that old man sent us on a fool's errand. Perhaps its fitting that he doesn't get what he wanted, but _we_ came here for the mesos, the gold, the jewels. We were told there were many."

"This is how he enticed all who came before you, but you may not have any. They are locked away here, and I keep them safe."

"That's unfortunate," Force threatened, "because we all really need them. We're not leaving here without the mesos."

"That _is_ unfortunate," Alishar retorted, "for you shall have none. I'll only warn you once more, turn away and leave."


	11. Chapter 11: The More, The Merrier

**Chapter Eleven: The More, The Merrier**

Force had clearly had enough of this tower, its tricks and trials, and all of its monstrosities causing them trouble. He reached behind him and unclasped his sword from its sheath, pulling it around and holding it upright with both hands firmly on its grip. The implication was clear, but Force vocalized it anyway: "Get out of our way."

The air rapidly grew more hostile. Vol wasted no time in also arming herself, pulling both her daggers from their sheaths and holding them ready. Heros in turn readied his bow, placing it in his left hand and stood prepared to draw an arrow. Evek was slightly more reluctant than the other three, but did eventually reveal his magical wand, clasping it casually with both hands.

"I do not like having to do this, but you will not be the first – nor most populated – group that I have repelled," Alishar spoke very seriously. Heros found the way Alishar worded its sentence very odd.

Alishar, for the first time, opened its frightening mouth entirely. It became the majority of Alishar's face, and was almost perfectly round in shape, spanning from its bottom to its eyes now. It revealed more razor sharp teeth lining the entire mouth. More peculiar than that was that it was simply black inside, with no sign of anything at all.

Seeking the first blow, Force began sprinting at the gaping hole seeing not a threat but a target. Vol reacted a split second afterward and remained right behind Force. Evek and Heros stayed behind to play supportive roles, with Heros preparing an arrow and Evek ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice.

Before the charging adventurers could even cover half the distance to Alishar, a dim purple light began to swirl inside of its black mouth. The shimmering became a significant source of light as it grew suddenly and rapidly, culminating in a blinding flash of light that caused all of the group to halt and cover their eyes for the brief moment that it lasted. When the light had faded, there were six creatures between the group and Alishar.

The creatures had seemingly appeared from nowhere, and were as peculiar as Alishar himself. They were much smaller, a little shorter in size than any of the adventurers. Like Alishar they had no extremities and simply floated slightly above the floor. They were white and the only sign of a face was a single offset eye above a gaping hole. The hole didn't resemble a mouth in the slightest way, and looked different on each creature though they each had one. Inside the holes were the creature's innards, revealing several cogs, gears, wheels, and pendulums, like the inside of a clock.

Force and Vol looked at each other, both unsure of what to do. But before they could decide, the six creatures began closing the distance. They stayed mostly in a line, like a wall blocking the adventurers from Alishar. It wasn't much longer before the creatures started showing their threat: their single eye gleamed before a purple ball of energy materialized and propelled itself towards the closest targets. Caught off guard, Force and Vol had to act fast to move themselves out of the way of a few of them. The blasts continued in a straight line until they hit something, a few striking pillars while the others made it all the way to the far side of the chamber, and then they detonated in a small but furious looking blast of energy.

The creatures remained unrelenting and so the adventurers responded in kind. As the creatures tried targeting them all once again, Force and Vol used their agility to dodge each blast while trying to close in on them. Heros drew his bowstring back and carefully released one of his few remaining arrows. Evek gave a whip and wave of his wand and released a similar ball of energy, except blue, hurling towards the creatures.

Heros' arrow flew true and struck a beast right in its gaping hole. The cogs and gears inside of it clunked and stuttered to a stop, and the beast's eye grew dim until it faded entirely, and then it fell to the ground lifeless. Evek's magical blast struck another and they both detonated in midair. Vol, more agile than Force, was first to close the distance and began assaulting the closest creature. She struck it as fast as lightning over and over again until its eye faded and it fell to the floor. Force struck one with his sword so hard that it split right in half, its mechanical insides spraying loose and scattering on the floor.

Alishar's mouth had remained agape and before the group of monsters it had just spawned were entirely gone, the same dim purple light began swirling inside its blackness. Just like before, in a sudden flash, there were another set of six creatures in front of Alishar. The new group began heading towards the adventurers as Alishar remained still with his mouth wide open.

Force and Vol couldn't afford to stop for even a moment even though the strange creatures being summoned by Alishar were relatively slow. Being so close to them meant even less time to dodge their magic. Force kept his blade active and slid it through another monster. Vol was circling the creatures, making her an even harder target to hit, and steadily struck them. Her attacks didn't seem quite as impressive as Force's, each blow hardly slicing into the monsters, but she executed them with such speed that the beasts were quickly covered in dozens of small cuts making it only a matter of time before one such blow was fatal.

Force swung his blade around and sent it straight through the hole in the front of another creature, pulling his sword up and through its body. As it clunked to the ground it meant the first wave had been fully defeated. The second, however, was sending blast after blast of magic towards the adventurers already. Force turned to face one and, reacting just in time, pulled his sword up and used it like a shield. The magic purple ball collided directly with Force's sword and upon detonation sent Force flying onto his back.

Heros and Evek looked on from their somewhat safe positions with uneasy eyes. Evek had been conserving his energy, and Heros his arrows, but they both knew they had to get more involved or the fight would soon be over. Thinking independently but acting together, both sprinted to catch up with their team.

Vol was quicker on her feet and as a ball of magic closed in on her she swiftly sprung over it, executing a midair flip before spryly landing on her feet and heading for its source. Force worked his way back to his feet, being shaken up but mostly okay. His glittering silver sword had even charred from the blast. Heros and Evek stopped alongside Force to make sure he was okay.

"Are you injured?" Evek asked.

"No," Force sounded relieved, "thanks to my sword. I'm not sure what it would be like to take one of those full on, but I don't want to find out."

"I'm almost out of arrows," Heros said, "but I'll hit them as hard as I can."

With a flash of purple, Alishar had suddenly summoned a third wave of the creatures. None of the adventurers wanted to say it to each other, but everyone was starting to feel hopeless as the enemies seemed to be endless. Vol was working on distracting the second squad as the third rapidly approached. Heros, Force, and Evek all rushed to Vol's side.

Force resumed thrusting, swinging, and slashing his sword through every beast he could manage to reach while Vol assaulted them lightly but quickly. Heros was ready to get right into the heat of battle and took his place beside Force, slamming his hardened wooden bow as viciously as he could against the monsters, at the very least providing another distraction. Evek remained behind the three but vigorously waved his wand in a wide _X_ pattern, conjuring his blade-like magic waves that cut into the monsters as if they were Force's sword.

Another wave was called into action by Alishar and it became alarmingly clear to the adventurers that they couldn't continue this battle by conventional means. Something had to be done about Alishar, and fast. Within minutes, the room would be flooded by the monsters and the group would be hopelessly outnumbered.

Evek took the initiative. While his comrades had their hands more than full fending off the advancing waves of Alishar's minions, he decided to aim for Alishar instead. They were still a ways away from Alishar but Evek had something in mind. He began sprinting towards his friends and the hoard of enemies and, at the last moment, disappeared in a quick dim flash of blue, only to reappear in the same fashion on the opposite side, still sprinting.

"Evek! Come back!" Heros called, worried.

But Evek paid no attention. With nothing between him and Alishar he now stopped, looking back only to make sure the monsters weren't aware of his intentions. When he felt sure that he was not pursued, he faced Alishar and began hurling spell after spell into the massive agape mouth.

Alishar did nothing, and Evek's magics appeared to just fade into the blackness with no effect. The purple light began swirling shortly enough and suddenly there was a fifth set of six monsters right in front of Evek. With drone like determination they immediately began heading towards Evek and the other adventurers, who were quickly becoming surrounded. Evek, not confident he could face them himself, turned and began running towards his friends with the fifth platoon of creatures right on his tail. Evek looked over his shoulders to see them gaining on him and he panicked, tripping over his own robe and tumbling to the floor.


	12. Chapter 12: Going Down

**Chapter Twelve: Going Down**

Heros, Force, and Vol were getting pushed back farther and farther, simply unable to kill off the creatures as fast as Alishar reinforced their numbers. Whereas Vol and Force had remained focused on fending off the monsters, Heros had been watching Evek and saw his dire situation. The monsters were closing in on him and preparing to blast him with their magic.

Heros backed up and prepared his last arrow, which he had been using like a spear to jab the monsters. Not exactly sure how he was going to save Evek with one arrow, Heros aimed for the monsters anyway and took his time. He pulled the bowstring to its full draw and set his sights on the monster closest to Evek. He eyed the group that Vol and Force were fighting and waited for a gap, and when the first open shot presented itself he immediately released his breath and bowstring.

The arrow flew past Vol, past Force, and past a group of the monsters. Evek extended his wand and gave a great thrust, expelling a great ball of blue magic energy towards his pursuers. Heros' arrow shot right through Evek's magic and became ablaze with blue fire. The magic made the arrow travel twice as fast, with twice the force, and it flew right through two of the creatures approaching Evek. It continued without slowing all the way to Alishar.

As Alishar was preparing another wave, the purple light began swelling in his black mouth. Heros' magic arrow shot right into Alishar's wide mouth and a rush of blue overpowered any sign of the purple light. His black, empty mouth quickly shone a bright blue. Alishar shut his mouth tightly though the blue light still escaped through cracks in his teeth.

Alishar seemed to become disorientated. While he had remained still with his mouth open for the entire battle, he now was moving around in sharp zigzagged patterns. Unable to keep himself straight, Alishar wandered around, knocking over his own minions and tumbling into the various columns around the room.

Evek was far from safe, and he scrambled to his feet. He managed to slip away from the monsters pursuing him thanks to Heros' attack, and now was closer to the group. Force used his strength to cut a path clear through the middle of the remaining monsters, letting Evek safely pass without tiring himself even more. With Evek now safe, the adventurers all disengaged the group of creatures and retreated to the door from which they'd originally come.

"What do we do now?" Evek asked, their backs to the wall as the monsters closed in to finish them off.

"The door won't open!" Heros struggled to find any way to reopen the door.

"We don't want it open. Don't you remember what was on the other side?" Vol snapped at Heros with a clear disapproving tone.

Alishar continued to run amok, smashing right through pillars and crushing his own minions as he carelessly moved around the room. His white eyes began to shift blue, and he let out a pained groan. The light remained in his mouth and hadn't grown any dimmer. Alishar reopened his mouth as wide as he could, and in another flash he summoned more minions. The blue light remained, and Alishar continued to arbitrarily navigate the large chamber, but he began spawning dozens of creatures at a time.

"We're officially out of time," Evek alerted his team to the rapidly growing number of enemies coming at them.

"This way!" Force shouted, leading the adventurers away from the enemies and Alishar towards one of the chambers outer walls where a large hole lay.

The sun blinded them briefly, but when their eyes adjusted they all stood over the edge and gazed down. The fall would have been fatal for anyone, revealing that they had climbed several floors from where they entered on the one hundredth.

"Are you kidding me?" Vol let it known that she disapproved of Force's plan, _whatever _it was.

They didn't have many options left as Alishar's dozens of creatures surrounded them. Alishar himself was approaching the adventurers in a staggered manner. But Force didn't really have a plan now. Everyone was trying to think of a way to get out of the chamber, but it became clear that they were now surrounded at the tower's wall.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Alishar shouted furiously, his deep empowering voice echoed loudly off of every wall. He rapidly moved towards Heros and his friends, mowing down anything in his way. The walls of the chamber were beginning to shake, and pieces of its ceiling crumbled.

"Brace yourselves!" Force shouted, and the entire troupe huddled together for lack of a better plan.

As Alishar's minions began closing in for the kill, the enraged Alishar plowed right through them and pushed the group right out of the tower. Alishar, being much larger than the hole, took a large portion of the wall's bricks with him as he and the adventurers began to fall. The resulting much larger hole in the tower's side caused the room to fully collapse on itself, effectively crushing anything left on the top floor of Eos Tower.

The adventurers fell and Alishar was right behind them. The bridge connecting Eos Tower to Temporis was fast approaching, and that was the last stop before another one hundred stories of free fall. Alishar opened his mouth, seemingly trying to envelop the falling adventurers who were clinging together in a group.

Heros, in the midst of all his pumping adrenaline, noticed the blue gem shimmering on Alishar's belt-like strap. Compared to Alishar the gem was simply a footnote, though it was as big as Heros' hand. It wasn't round, but jagged and oddly shaped. Heros knew this was what the old man was looking for. He and his new friends may have missed out on the fortune supposedly hidden atop Eos Tower, but Heros wasn't content with missing out on answers.

Heros outstretched his hand, struggling in vain to reach the gem fixed to Alishar. It was simply too far away but Alishar was slowly beginning to creep up on them. Heros was tightly knit with the rest of the adventurers but he maneuvered himself free and pushed off of Force. His friends gently traveled closer to the wall of Eos Tower, and out of Alishar's path.

"Heros!" Evek cried as he watched Heros push away from the group, but there was little that could be done. They were already more than an arm's length away and Heros was approaching Alishar.

As Heros neared the gem, he gripped it with both hands. He pulled his legs up and placed them on Alishar's body. Alishar struggled like a fish out of water, but only let out a bloodcurdling wail. Heros had a good grip on the gem and it came off with little effort. Heros then pushed with his legs and distanced himself from Alishar again.

Force, sword still in hand, was now within reach of the tower's wall. Gripping the sword in both hands, Vol and Evek both clinging to his body, Force extended his sword to make contact with the wall. The sword scraped and bounced but it couldn't penetrate. Finally, just as the bridge to Temporis was nigh, Force succeeded as his sword slipped into a crack in the wall and stuck. They were all brought to a violent halt, but managed to hang on regardless.

Heros tucked the gem into his tunic and stretched for the group hanging from the wall. He barely was able to grasp onto Evek's robe, which caused Evek to lose his grip on Force. Heros made a second grab for Force's leg and managed to grasp his boot, extending his other hand to grab Evek's. Evek scrambled to make his hand available, and clasped onto Heros' free hand tightly. Alishar passed right by them all, continuing to fade into the distance until he simply disappeared from view.

"I don't mean to pressure anyone," Force grunted, "but I'm not sure how long I can hold on."

"The bridge isn't far," observed Evek. "Heros... think you could swing me?"

Heros didn't say anything, as his own grip on Force's boot was strenuous at best. Heros began swinging his hanging arm back and forth, and Evek pumped his own feet to help generate momentum. After a few swings, without warning, Evek released his grip on Heros' hand at the apex of his swing, hurling himself towards the bridge. Heros immediately swung his now free hand up to grasp Force's boot, and Evek made it onto the bridge safely.

"I could do the same," Heros commented, "and you could too Force. But how is Vol going to make it?"

Vol didn't say a word. She was holding tightly to Force's body and shoulder closest to the bridge. She peeked over her shoulder to gauge the distance. And then, without consulting the others, placed her feet on Force's hip to launch herself backwards. She barely made it, gripping the edge of the bridge and pulling herself up safely.

Force and Heros decided not to comment, and Evek remained quiet as well. Heros wasn't eager to stay hanging like he was, so he began pumping his legs to swing himself back and forth. Force let his body hang freely for Heros. Within a couple swings, Heros felt he had enough momentum and let himself fly towards the bridge, safely landing on it.

Force continued swinging back and forth towards the bridge, using the momentum that Heros had already built up. Force wasn't nearly as confident in his ability to make the jump, but knew he couldn't hang there forever. As his grip began to weaken on his sword's hilt, he anxiously released and flew for the bridge. The strain on his sword made it become dislodged and it spiraled down the length of the tower, but Force safely made it to the bridge.


	13. Chapter 13: The Old Man

**Chapter Thirteen: The Old Man**

The group, except Vol, peered over the edge at what almost became their demise. Heros was discomforted by Vol's new attitude towards the team, but he tried to sympathize with her. He had never lost a sibling, and certainly not under similar circumstances. Still, he wanted to clear the air.

"Vol," he started, walking up behind her, "are you okay?"

"_I'm_ fine," she retorted. "But I can't stay here. I needed those mesos and I never got them, so I'll have to look elsewhere."

"You're not coming back to the Adventurer's Guild with us?"

"Why would I? We failed. I need something of value before I show my face in Temporis again, so as much as I hate that tower, I've got to head down it to the continent."

"I'm not going either," Force interjected. "I was in it for the mesos too, and without them I have no reason to go back to town."

"Evek?" Heros asked.

"I think I'm going to stick around Force," Evek replied, half joking and half serious.

Heros wanted to mention that he'd gotten the gem, the real reason he'd gone on the quest. But it became clear that they were all enticed by the old man's promise of fortune. Heros was after the fame, and if they didn't want in on it, he didn't mind keeping it to himself.

"Alright," Heros said, "I'll go back to the guild alone then. Thanks for everything," he added sincerely. "I don't know if I would have made it out of there with any other team."

Evek smiled and Force offered a parting handshake, but Vol kept her back turned. As she began walking towards the same entrance they had first entered, she offered only a "See ya around, Fifth." Force and Evek turned to join her, and Heros began heading towards Temporis.

Heros tried to reflect on what had happened. Just a few hours ago he was trekking the same stairs in the opposite direction, looking for four people he'd never met before, directed there by a cryptic old man. And then he looked at his reward for all that had happened: he held the jewel in his right hand and let the light shimmer off its glossy but uneven surface. It wasn't sharp, but was far from polished or refined. It didn't look valuable, it didn't seem to hold any special properties. At least, not to Heros.

Temporis wasn't far from the bridge leading to Eos Tower. The city was surrounded with mystery, but it was largely overlooked by the average citizen. It's clouded history and unknown architects were forgotten as time passed by, and people settled it as they pleased. Now it was a fairly bustling town, housing one of the largest chapters of the Adventurer's Guild, and an important trading hub. People enjoyed Temporis' location because Eos Tower lay upon one continent and Helios upon another, with Temporis nestled between the one hundredth floor of each. The trek up and down the towers wasn't exactly easy, but it was still a convenience for travelers.

As Heros approached the city, he noticed more and more groups of people staring at him. At first he paid no attention to it, but it started to seem as though the entire city was looking at him. He gave it a moment's thought, and realized that the events at the top of the tower would have been city-wide news by now. They'd been responsible for the collapse of the top of Eos Tower, something that could have been seen from anywhere in Temporis. Even if the act hadn't been caught, the tower looked clearly different at the top.

Heros didn't want to waste any time making his way to the Adventurer's Guild. It lay directly across from the city's center, marked by its unmistakable clock tower. The clock tower was tall and thick, nearly as impressive a monument as Eos and Helios towers, and was a common destination for tourists as it was the first thing you saw as you approached the city.

Heros swung open the door to the Adventurer's Guild and made his way inside. It differed little from a common tavern, but was more of a hub for mercenaries, bodyguards, and even assassins; a place where citizens could seek more experienced adventurers to do their bidding. It was here that Heros had seen the advertisement for a job with rewards that were, indeed, too good to be true. But with fortunate often came fame, and Heros was desperate. And against all odds, Heros had actually succeeded.

Heros scanned the room, looking for the old man who'd given them all the job and tried to ignore the fact that everyone was still gazing at him. The old man had always been cloaked, but was still hard to miss, and Heros couldn't spot him. He decided to check with the receptionist, who told Heros that he'd gone and not yet returned. Heros took a place at one of the tables in a corner, ordered a tall ale, and left a few copper coins he had in his pocket on the table as payment. Before Heros could make it half way through his drink, the man he'd been waiting for showed up and sat across the table from Heros.

"You... returned," the old man sounded shocked.

"You seem surprised," Heros replied. "You and the rest of the city."

"Yes, well, the job wasn't exactly low-profile. Or low-risk."

"That's an understatement."

"But wasn't it worth it? All those mesos, all those jewels!" The old man cried.

"There was something atop the tower. Something that claimed to guard all that treasure. We never saw it. None of it."

"...You speak of Alishar," the old man relented.

"You knew about it?"

"Yes, I've known about Alishar all along. But please, trust me, I couldn't tell you. If you had known, you wouldn't have agreed to go. No one would, and Alishar himself was strictly the reason you had to go. Tell me, have to obtained the item I sought?"

Heros removed the blue gem and placed it on the table, far from the old man's reach. "This?" Heros asked.

The old man placed his hands on the table but made no effort to snatch the gem. He lifted one hand up and pulled his overbearing hood down. His face was covered with long white hair save the skin under his eyes, which hung low like it carried the weight of all his years. The old man's blue eyes lit up with passion and without words Heros knew the answer to his question. But this was not the only question Heros had.

"What is it?" Heros demanded more than asked.

The old man's expression returned to stoic, being snapped back from Heros' voice. "It's hard to explain," he tried to coax Heros.

"I went through a lot to get this, and got nothing in return. If you don't give me answers, I'll settle for the highest bidder around town. It's shiny, I'm sure I'll find a buyer."

"No!" The old man insisted, "please, don't say things you can't comprehend. I'll compensate you personally... one hundred mesos and no questions asked."

Heros was tempted to take the money, but his curiosity burned strong. "Fifty, and you tell me everything," Heros counter offered.

The old man folded his arms and gave the proposition serious thought. "Fine," he finally conceded, "but I don't expect you to believe or understand it all. The simple version is that it is what gives Alishar his power. A fragment of another, parallel world from which Alishar and all his kin have come. Without it, Alishar will be unable to function in this world and will have to return."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Heros commented, "because I don't think even he could survive the fall down Eos Tower."

"He fell?" The old man was again surprised, "all the way? He's dead?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say so."

"Indeed. You are correct, he could not survive such a fall, especially without his source of power." The old man paused, searching for the next thing to say. Stammering, he continued, "Even still, it should be protected. I am old and have little use left in this world. Let me take it and hide it, safe and far away from prying eyes. My bones are old and my skin hangs, I lacked the strength to do what you have done. But for as long as I can remember, my family has passed down the stories of Alishar and his kin, and the dangers they posed. Surely you saw those dangers with your own eyes!"

Heros was now at a loss for words. He couldn't be sure of anything, but if the old man was telling the truth then the consequences would have been dire if Heros didn't listen. The old man reached into his long, sleek robe and struggled to pull out a hefty burlap sack tied shut with rope. He placed it on the table, making the coins inside jingle.

"That's fifty mesos in assorted gold and silver pieces. Do we have a deal?"

"All you wanted this gem for was to hide it?" Heros wanted to be assured.

"That's all," the old man simply replied.

Heros looked around and saw the buildings patrons eying both him and the old man. Some of them tried to conceal it and looked away, while others didn't mind being caught and continued to watch. "How can I be certain you'll hide it well enough? We're about to become the talk of the town, maybe word will even spread farther than that. You will certainly be followed."

The old man chuckled, "did you see me when you walked in? I know how to lose a tail. Please, young man, my whole life has been waiting for this one task." The old man reached into his robe and once again pulled out a similar sack, placing it beside the first. "One hundred mesos."

Heros reluctantly slid the blue gem across the table to the old man, who quickly snatched it up and hid it away inside his robe. The old man tried his best to toss each bag towards Heros, though neither made it farther than half the table. Heros reached forward and grabbed both bags, pulling them close and untying one to inspect its contents. He didn't count it, but it certainly looked like enough to be fifty mesos in one sack.

The old man stood. "Thank you," he said, and curled his lips in a way that could have been a smile, or a smirk. Without another word the old man pulled his long hood over his head, shrouding his face in shadow once again, and turned to leave. He shuffled his aching bones towards the door and then was gone.

Heros took a deep breath and wondered if he had done the right thing, and couldn't help but worry about Force, Evek, and Vol. With the old man no longer there, a few strangers began crowding the table. Some sat while others remained standing, but they all began begging Heros to tell them what happened in Eos Tower. Heros had set out for fame, and at the very least it was clear that he'd made a name for himself among the patrons of the Adventurer's Guild. Heros tilted his chair back on two legs and with a smile on his face he reached for the rest of his ale.


End file.
